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Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the
13‚Äď15th centuries

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) was an Eastern
and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until 1795.
It was founded by the Lithuanians, one
of the paganBaltic tribes from AukŇ°taitija. The duchy later
expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus' and other Slavic lands, covering the
territory of present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia and parts of
Moldova, Poland and Russia. At
its greatest extent in the 15th century, it was the largest state
in Europe. It was a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state with
great diversity in languages, religion, and cultural
heritage.

The title of "Grand Duchy" was consistently applied to Lithuania
from the 14th century onward.

History

Establishment of the state

The first written reference to
Lithuania is found in the Quedlinburg Chronicle, which dates
from 1009. In the 12th century, Slavic chronicles refer to
Lithuania as one of the areas attacked by the
Rus'. At first pagan Lithuanians paid tribute to Polotsk, but soon
grew in strength and organized their own small-scale raids.At some
point between 1180 and 1183 the situation began to change, and the
Lithuanians started to organize sustainable military raids on the
Slavic provinces, raiding the
Polotsk duchy as
well as Pskov, and even
threatening Novgorod. The sudden spark of military raids marked
consolidation of the Lithuanian lands in AukŇ°taitija. Possibly by the end of the
12th century the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was already formed in
these lands.

The
Livonian Order and Teutonic Knights, crusading military orders, were established in Riga in 1202 and
in Prussia in 1226. The Christian
orders posed a significant threat to pagan Baltic tribes and
further galvanized the formation of the state. The peace treaty
with Galicia‚ÄďVolhynia of
1219 provides evidence of cooperation between Lithuanians and
Samogitians. This treaty lists 21 Lithuanian dukes,
including five senior Lithuanian dukes from AukŇ°taitija (ŇĹivinbudas, Daujotas, Vilikaila,
Dausprungas and Mindaugas) and several dukes from Samogitia. Although they had battled in the past,
the Lithuanians and the Samogitians spoke a similar dialect and now
faced a common enemy. Likely ŇĹivinbudas had most authority and at
least several dukes were from the same families. The formal
acknowledgment of common interests and the establishment of a
hierarchy among the signatories of the treaty foreshadowed the
emergence of the state.

Kingdom of Lithuania

Mindaugas, duke of southern Lithuania, was among the five senior
dukes, mentioned in the treaty with Galicia‚ÄďVolhynia. According to
the Livonian Rhymed
Chronicle, by mid-1230s Mindaugas acquired supreme power in the
whole of Lithuania. In 1236, the Samogitians, led by Vykintas, defeated the Livonian Order in the Battle of Saule. The Order was forced to
become a branch of the Teutonic
Knights in Prussia. That meant that Samogitia, a strip of land
that separated Livonia from Prussia, became the main target of both
orders. The battle provided a break in the wars with
the Knights and Lithuania exploited this situation, arranging
attacks towards the Ruthenian provinces and annexing Navahrudak and Hrodna.

In 1248 a civil war broke out between Mindaugas and his nephews
Tautvilas and Edivydas. The powerful coalition against Mindaugas
included Vykintas, the Livonian Order, Daniel of Galicia, and Vasilko of Volhynia. Mindaugas, taking
advantage of internal conflicts, allied with the Livonian Order. He
promised to convert to Christianity and gift some lands in western
Lithuania in exchange for military assistance against his nephews
and the royal crown. In 1251 Mindaugas was baptized and Pope Innocent IV issued a papal bull, proclaiming creation of the Kingdom of Lithuania. After the civil
war ended, Mindaugas was crowned as King of Lithuania on July 6, 1253,
starting a decade of relative peace. Mindaugas tried to
expand his influence in Polatsk, a major
center of commerce in the Daugava River
basin, and Pinsk. The
Teutonic Knights used this period to strengthen its position in
parts of Samogitia and Livonia, but lost the Battle of Skuodas in 1259 and the Battle of Durbe in 1260. These losses
encouraged conquered Semigallians and
Prussians to rebel against the
Knights.

Encouraged
by Treniota, Mindaugas broke the peace with
the Order, possibly relapsed into his old beliefs, and allied with
Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod. He hoped to unite all Baltic tribes under
the Lithuanian leadership. As military campaigns were not
successful, the relationships between Mindaugas and Treniota
deteriorated. Treniota together with Daumantas assassinated Mindaugas and his
two sons, Ruklys and Rupeikis, in 1263. The state lapsed into years
of internal fights.

Rise of the Gediminids

From 1263 to 1269, Lithuania had three Grand Dukes ‚Äď Treniota, VaiŇ°vilkas, and Svarn.
However, the state did not disintegrate and Traidenis came to power in 1269. He strengthened
Lithuanian control in Black Ruthenia
and fought with the Livonian Order, winning the Battle of Karuse in 1270 and the Battle of Aizkraukle in 1279. There is
considerable uncertainty about the identities of the Grand Dukes of
Lithuania between Traidenis' death in 1282 and Vytenis' assumption of power in 1295. During this
time the Orders finalized their conquests. In 1274 the Great Prussian Rebellion ended, and
the Teutonic Knights proceeded to conquer other Baltic tribes: the
Nadruvians and Skalvians in 1274‚Äď1277, and the Yotvingians in 1283; the Livonian Order
completed its conquest of Semigalia, the last Baltic ally of
Lithuania, in 1291. The Orders could now turn their full attention
to Lithuania. The "buffer zone" composed of other Baltic tribes had
disappeared, and Lithuania was left to battle the Orders on its
own.

Vytenis was the first ruler from the Gediminids dynasty who ruled Lithuania for
several centuries. His reign saw constant warfare with the Order,
the Kingdom of Poland, and Ruthenia. Vytenis was involved in
succession disputes in Poland, supporting Boleslaus II of Masovia, who was
married to a Lithuanian duchess Gaudemunda. In Ruthenia, Vytenis
managed to recapture lands lost after the assassination of
Mindaugas and capture the principalities of Pinsk and TuraŇ≠.In the struggle against the Order, Vytenis
allied with citizens of Riga.
Securing positions in Riga strengthened trade routes and provided a
base for further military campaigns towards. Around 1307, Polatsk, an important trading center, was annexed by
military force.Vytenis also began the construction of
defensive castle network along the Neman River. Gradually this network developed into the
main defensive line against the Teutonic Order.

Territorial expansion

The
expansion reached its heights under Gediminas, who created a strong central government
and established an empire, which later spread from the Black Sea to the Baltic
Sea. In 1320, most of the principalities of
Western Rus' were either vassalized or annexed by Lithuania.
In 1321
Gediminas captured Kiev
sending Stanislav, the last
Rurikid to ever rule Kiev, into
exile.Gediminas also re-established the permanent
capital of Lithuania in Vilnius, which was presumably moved from Trakai in 1323.

Lithuania was in an ideal position to inherit the west and the
south part of Kievan Rus'. While almost
every other state around it had been plundered or defeated by the
Mongols, their hordes never reached as far north as Lithuania
and its territory was left untouched. The expansion of Lithuania
was also accelerated because of the weak control the Mongols had
over the areas they had conquered. (Rus' principalities were never
incorporated directly into the Golden
Horde. Instead, they were always vassal states with a fair
degree of independence. The rise of Lithuania occurred at the ideal
time when they could expand while meeting very little resistance in
the territories populated by East Slavs and only limited opposition
from the Mongols.

Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 17th
centuries with administrative divisions.

The Lithuanian state was not built only on military aggression. Its
existence always depended on diplomacy just as much as on arms.
Most, while not all, cities it annexed were never defeated in
battle but agreed to be vassals of Lithuania. Since most of them
were already vassals of the Golden Horde or of the Grand Prince of Moscow, such a
decision was not one of giving up independence but rather of
exchanging one master for another. This can be seen in the case of Novgorod, which was often brought into the Lithuanian sphere
of influence and became an occasional dependency of
Lithuania. Rather, Lithuanian control was the result of
internal frictions within the city, which attempted to escape
submission to Moscovia. This method of
building the state was, however, unstable. The change of internal
politics within a city could pull it out of Lithuania's control, as
happened on a number of occasions with Novgorod and other
East-Slavic cities.

Union with Poland

Lithuania was Christianized in 1387. Christianization was led by
Jogaila, who personally translated Christian prayers into the
Lithuanian language. The state
reached a peak under Vytautas the
Great, who reigned from 1392 to 1430. Vytautas was one of the
most famous rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was the Grand Duke from 1401-1430, also the Prince of Hrodna (1370-1382)
and the Prince of Lutsk
(1387-1389). Vytautas was the son of Kńôstutis, cousin of Jogaila, who became King of Poland in 1386, and
grandfather of Vasili II of
Moscow. In 1410 Vytautas himself commanded the
forces of the Grand Duchy in the Battle of Grunwald (also called the Battle of Tannenberg or ŇĹalgirio
mŇęŇ°is). The battle ended in a decisive Polish-Lithuanian
victory against the Teutonic Order.
Vytautas backed economic development of his state and introduced
many reforms. Under his rule the Grand Duchy of Lithuania slowly
became more centralized, as the governors loyal to Vytautas
replaced local princes with dynastic ties to the throne. The
governors were rich landowners who formed the basis for the
Lithuanian nobility. During Vytautas' rule RadziwiŇāŇā and GoŇ°tautas families started to gain
influence.

Polish‚ÄďLithuanian Commonwealth

The loss
of land to Moscow and the continued pressure threatened the
survival of the state of Lithuania, so it was forced to ally more
closely with Poland, uniting
with its western neighbour as the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth (Commonwealth of Two Nations) in the
Union of Lublin of 1569.
According to the Union many of the territories formerly controlled
by the largely Ruthenized"Within the [Lithuanian] Grand Duchy, the
Ruthenian lands initially retained considerable autonomy. The pagan
Lithuanians themselves were increasingly converting to Orthodoxy
and assimilating into Ruthenian culture. The grand duchy's
administrative practices and legal system drew heavily on Slavic
customs, and Ruthenian became the official state language. Direct
Polish rule in Ukraine since the 1340s and for two centuries
thereafter was limited to Galicia. There, changes in such areas as
administration, law, and land tenure proceeded more rapidly than in
Ukrainian territories under Lithuania. However, Lithuania itself
was soon drawn into the orbit of Poland."
from Ukraine. (2006). In Encyclop√¶dia Britannica. Grand
Duchy of Lithuania were transferred to the Crown of the Polish Kingdom,
while the gradual process of Polonization slowly drew Lithuania itself under
Polish domination."Formally, Poland and Lithuania were to be
distinct, equal components of the federation,[...] But Poland,
which retained possession of the Lithuanian lands it had seized,
had greater representation in the Diet and became the dominant
partner.
from Lublin, Union of (2006). In Encyclop√¶dia Britannica"While
Poland and Lithuania would thereafter elect a joint sovereign and
have a common parliament, the basic dual state structure was
retained. Each continued to be administered separately and had its
own law codes and armed forces. The joint commonwealth, however,
provided an impetus for cultural Polonization of the Lithuanian
nobility. By the end of the 17th century it had virtually become
indistinguishable from its Polish counterpart."

Demographics and languages

The nucleus of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the land of
Lithuania, the ethnic land of
Lithuanians. At the birth of the Grand Duchy, ethnic Lithuanians
made up about 70% of the population. . Statistical numbers, usually
accepted in historiography (the sources, their treatment, the
method of measuring is not discussed in the source), are given,
according to which in 1260 there were about 0.27 million
Lithuanians out of a total population of 0.4 million (or 67.5%).
The size of the territory of the Grand Duchy was about 200 thousand
km2. The following data on population is given in the
sequence - year, total population in millions, territory,
Lithuanian (inhabitants of ethnic Lithuania) part of population in
millions: 1340 - 0.7, 350 thousand km2, 0.37; 1375 -
1.4, 700 thousand km2, 0.42; 1430 - 2.5, 930 thousand
km2, 0.59 or 24%; 1490 - 3.8, 850 thousand
km2, 0.55 or 14% or 1/7; 1522 - 2.365, 485 thousand
km2, 0.7 or 30%; 1568 - 2.8, 570 thousand
km2, 0.825 million or 30%; 1572, 1.71, 320 thousand
km2, 0.85 million or 50%; 1770 - 4.84, 320 thousand
km2, 1.39 or 29%; 1791 - 2.5, 250 km2, 1.4 or
56%; 1793 - 1.8, 132 km2, 1.35 or 75% With the
acquisition of new Ruthenian territories,
this portion decreased to 50% and later to 30%Letukienńó, N.,
Istorija. Politologija: kurso santrauka istorijos egzaminui, 2003,
p. 182; there were about 0.37 million Lithuanians of 0.7 million of
a whole population by 1340 in the territory of 350 thousand
km2 and 0.42 million of 1.4 million by 1375 in the
territory of 700 thousand km2. Different numbers can
also be found, for example: Kevin O'Connor, The history of the
Baltic States, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, ISBN
0313323550, Google Print, p.17. Here author estimates that
there were 9 millions of inhabitants in GDL, and 1 million of them
were ethnic Lithuanians by 1387. By the time of the largest
expansion towards Rus' lands, the end of
the 13th and during the 14th century, the territory of the GDL was
about 800 thousand km2, 10% of which was ethnically
Lithuanian, or up to 930 thousand km2 with 14% or 1/7 of
population being ethnic Lithuanian. An estimate of the population
in the territory of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania together
gives a population at 7.5 million for 1493, breaking them down by
ethnicity at 3.25 million Poles, 3.75 million Ruthenians and 0.5
million Lithuanians. With the Union of
Lublin, 1569, Lithuanian Grand Duchy lost large part of lands
to the Polish Crown (see
demographics of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). In the mid
and lte 17th century, due to Russian and Swedish invasions, there
was much devastation and population loss on throughout the GDL,
including ethnic Lithuanian population in Vilnius surroundings. Besides devastation,
Ruthenian population declined proportionally after the territorial
losses to Russian
Empire. By 1770 there were about 4.84 million
inhabitants in the territory of 320 thousand km2, the
biggest part of whom were inhabitants of Ruthenia and about 1.39
million or 29% ‚Äď of ethnic Lithuania. During the following decades,
the population decreased in a result of partitions.

The center of the state, Lithuania
Proper, was inhabited by a majority which spoke Lithuanian, but
it was not a written language at the time. Ruthenian nobles spoke Ruthenian
languages; and the entire noble class (Ruthenian and Lithuanian)
became increasingly polonized over time
and started to use the Polish
language. Nobles who migrated from one place to another would
adapt to a new locality and adopt the local religion and culture.
Therefore those Lithuanian noble
families which moved to Slavic areas, took up the local culture
quickly over subsequent generations. Ruthenians were native to the
center and south-eastern part of the GDL and since they were the
major population in a wider area than a half of a whole after the
Union of Lublin and in larger portions of a whole before the union,
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a Slavic country in this sense.
The Ruthenian chancellery
language was used to write laws. From the time of Vytautas, there
are fewer remaining documents written in Ruthenian than there are
in Latin and German, but later Ruthenian became the main language
of documentation and writings, and was officially changed by
Polish as the chancellery language
of the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth in 1697. The voivodeships
with the predominant ethnic Lithuanian population were Vilnius, Trakai and Samogitian voivodeships. In the
southern angle of Trakai voivodeship, and south-eastern part of
Vilnius voivodeship there were many Belarusians too, in some of the
south-eastern volosts they were the major linguistic group. In
addition to Lithuanians and Ruthenians, other important ethnic groups on
throughout the GDL were Jews and
Tatars. Vilnius city population and its
surroundings were multi-ethnic, among languages spoken here, there
were Polish, Lithuanian, Belarusian, Yiddish, German also Tatar, Karaim
etc.

As a state, Grand Duchy of Lithuania was Ruthenian, Lithuanian,
Polish. The politically prerogative voivodeships were Vilnius,
Trakai and Samogitian. About half of nobility families of GDL had ethnic
Lithuanian roots, people in ethnic Lithuania spoke Lithuanian and
it is not known clearly what was the extent of use of Ruthenian
among Lithuanian boyars. Writing the Statutes of Lithuania and other laws
and documentation in Ruthenian does not necessarily imply anything
about spoken languages in ethnic Lithuania. Last king of the Duchy,
Zygmunt August, maintained both a
Polish and Lithuanian speaking court and Lithuanian language,
following the royal court, was tended to be changed to Polish in
ethnic Lithuania, when Ruthenian was stronger in Rus'. There is
Sigismund von
Herberstein's note left, that there were in an ocean of Russian
language in this part of Europe two non Russian regions: Lithuania
and Samogitia.

Following the expansion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the mid
14th century the adjective "Lithuanian", besides denoting an ethnic
Lithuanian, from early times denoted any inhabitant of GDL,
irrespective of ethnicity: a Ruthenian, a Jew. In the 18th century
"Litvin" (Polish: Litwin, Russian: –õ–ł—ā–≤–ł–Ĺ) meant Polish, Belarusian
and Lithuanian speakers. Since an adjective Lithuanian was applied
after a name of a state, the understanding of it varied depending
on place. For example, in eastern Ukraine, around
Poltava, "Litvin" was a person living in the other side of
Desna River, Belarusian
speaker.

At one point of the history of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, higher
strata of Lithuanian society from ethnic Lithuania mostly spoke
Polish, and from Belarus ‚Äď Belarusian. Samogitia was exclusive through state
in its economical situation ‚Äď it lain near ports and there were
less people under corvee, instead of that,
many simple people were money payers. As a result, the
stratification of the society was not as sharp as in other areas.
Being more similar to a simple population the local szlachta spoke Lithuanian to a bigger extent than
in the areas close to the capital Vilnius, which itself had become
a center of intensive linguistic Polonization. The last sermons in
Lithuanian in one of Vilnius churches were stopped to say in 1738.
In schooling, Latin language was being changed to Polish and
Lithuanian language repudiated. It was not let into Vilnius
University in the late 18th century, parochial and powiat
school learning for Lithuanian speaking children through Lithuania
was organized in Polish by people having offices in Vilnius.
In such circumstances "Samogitians" were known as szlachta, besides
Polish using Lithuanian too, and the mass of "Lithuanians", that is
any citizens on throughout the state, were understood as mostly
Polish speaking szlachta living in Vilnius and its surrounding area
and Polish-Belarusian speaking Belarusian szlachta.

There were texts written in the local Lithuanian language of the
Vilnius area, lying south-eastwards from Vilnius, then called
Lithuanian language, today called a dialect of Eastern AukŇ°taitian, appearing at the end of the
17th century, the beginning of the 18th century, but it did not
become used widerly as a written language and disappeared. The main
written language, not including Polish, used by Lithuanians as
their own one, became a language, which was then called Samogitian
language, today ‚Äď a dialect of western AukŇ°taitian, and was spoken
in the area starting about NevńóŇĺis River lowland westwards from
AukŇ°taitija.

Languages

Tribunal of Grand Duchy of Lithuania,
1586

The chancellery languages of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were
Ruthenian (East Slavonic; Old Belarusian or Old Ukrainian), and to a lesser extent (mostly
in diplomatic communication) Latin, German and Polish. The East
Slavonic was used to write laws (Statutes of Lithuania) and to
correspond with Eastern countries; Latin and German were used in
foreign affairs with western countries. Polish was increasingly
used as the Polish influence spread after the Union of Lublin. In
1697, Polish replaced Ruthenian as the chancellery language, but
documents in the East Slavonic are still found from the second half
of the 18th century too.. Although usage of the Lithuanian language in ruling the state
after Vytautas and Jogaila is disputed, it is believed Grand Duke
Alexander I could understand and
speak Lithuanian, and the last Grand Duke Zygmunt August maintained both Polish- and
Lithuanian-speaking courts. Since the times of Vytautas, and likely
before that, Lithuanian was not a language of administration used
by the authorities.

From the beginning of the 16th century, especially after an armed
rebellion of Michael Glinski in
1508, there were wishes to change Russian language to Latin. But
Ruthenian language appeared to be ingrained, its educational
structures were strong not only in Rus' part but also in ethnic
Lithuania. In a context of Polish language coming to GDL, Court Chancellor of the GDL Lew Sapieha, noted in a preface of the Third Statute of Lithuania (1588) that
this code was written in the own, Russian language. Similarly, a
canon of a chapter of the bishopric of Samogitia Mikalojus DaukŇ°a in the preface,
written in Polish, of his Postilla (1599) invited readers, citizens
of the Grand Duchy to use Lithuanian language and shamed them for
indifference towards their native language. He noted that many
people, especially szlachta, preferred
Polish to Lithuanian, and nevertheless most of them still knew
Polish badly. Such atmosphere appeared in a context of political
reforms of 1564‚Äď1566, by which political law structures of Polish
type were created: local parliaments of
szlachta members for election of candidates to the General sejm, local land courts, Tribunal, the
appellate court. The Polish language was tended to adopt as their
own by Lithuanians following the royal court.

Military

Despite Lithuania's mainly peaceful acquisition of much of its
Ruthenian holdings it could call upon military strength if needed
and it was the only power in Eastern
Europe that could effectively contend with the Golden Horde.
When the Golden Horde did try to prevent Lithuanian expansion they
were often rebuffed. In 1333 and 1339 Lithuanians defeated large
Mongol forces attempting to regain Smolensk from the Lithuanian sphere of influence. By
about 1355, the State of Moldavia had
formed. The Golden Horde did little to re-vassalize the area. In
1387, Moldavia became a vassal of Poland and in a broader sense,
Lithuania. By this time, Lithuania had conquered territory of the
Golden Horde all the way to the Dnieper River. In a crusade against
the Golden Horde in 1398, (in an alliance with Tokhtamysh), Lithuania invaded northern Crimea
and won a decisive victory. Then in 1399, Lithuania (intent on
placing Tokhtamish on the Golden Horde throne) moved against the
Horde. In the Battle of the
Vorskla River however, Lithuania was crushed by the Horde and
lost the steppe region.

Religion and culture

After the baptism in 1252 and coronation of King Mindaugas in 1253, Lithuania was recognized as a
Christian state until 1260, when Mindaugas supported an uprising in
Courland and (according to the German
order) renounced Christianity. Up until 1387, Lithuanian nobles
professed their own religion, which was a pagan belief based on deification of natural
phenomena. Ethnic Lithuanians were very dedicated to their faith.
The pagan beliefs needed to be deeply entrenched to survive strong
pressure from missionaries and foreign powers. Until the
seventeenth century there were relics of old faith, like feeding
Ňĺaltys or bringing food to graves of
ancestors.

The lands
of modern-day Belarus and Ukraine, as well as
local dukes (princes) in these regions, were
firmly Orthodox Christian (Greek
Catholic after the Union of Brest),
though. While pagan beliefs in Lithuania were strong enough
to survive centuries of pressure from military orders and
missionaries, they did eventually succumb. In 1387, Lithuania
converted to Catholicism, while most of
the Ruthenian lands stayed Orthodox. There was an effort to
polarize Orthodoxes after the Union of
Brest in 1596, by which Orthodox Greek Catholics acknowledged
papal authority and Catholic catechism, but preserved Orthodox
liturgy. Country also became one of the major centers of
reformation.

In 1579,
Stefan Batory, King of Poland and Grand
Duke of Lithuania, founded Vilnius University, one of the oldest universities in Eastern Europe. Due to the work of the
Jesuits during the Counter-Reformation the university soon
developed into one of the most important scientific and cultural
centers of the region and the most notable scientific center of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The work of the Jesuits as well as
conversions from among the Lithuanian senatorial families turned
the tide and by 1670s Calvinism lost its former importance
though it still retained some influence among the ethnically
Lithuanian peasants and some middle nobility, by then thoroughly
Polonized.

Legacy

[[File:Mazvydo katekizmas.jpg|thumb|180px|The first printed book in
Lithuanian languageThe
Simple Words of Catechism (by Martynas MaŇĺvydas). Book was
dedicated to Grand Duchy of Lithuania.]]

According
to some historians (especially in Russia), one of the
most crucial effects of Lithuanian rule was ethnic divisions
amongst the inhabitants of former Kievan
Rus'. From this point of view, the creation of the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania played a major role in the division of Eastern Slavs. After the Mongolian conquest of
Rus', Mongols attempted to keep Eastern Slavs
unified and succeeded in conquering most of Ruthenian lands.

Prussian tribes (of Baltic origin) were attacking Masovia, and that was the reason Duke Konrad of Masovia invited the Teutonic Knights to settle near the
Prussian area of settlement. The fighting between Prussians and the
Teutonic Knights gave the more distant Lithuanian tribes time to
unite. Because of strong enemies in the south and north, the newly
formed Lithuanian state concentrated most of its military and
diplomatic efforts on expansion eastward.

The rest
of former Ruthenian lands (Belarusian principalities) joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
from the very beginning. Some other lands in Ukraine were
vassalized by Lithuania later. The subjugation of Eastern Slavs by
two powers created substantial differences that persist to this
day. According to this claim, while under Kievan
Ruthenia there were certainly substantial regional differences, it
was the Lithuanian annexation of much of southern and western
Ruthenia that led to the permanent division between Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Russians.

Others
argue, that the ethnic and linguistic divisions amongst inhabitants
of Ruthenia were not initiated by division of this area between
Mongols and Lithuania, and are older than the creation of the Grand Duchy
of Lithuania. They state that until the twentieth century,
ethnic and linguistic frontiers between Ukrainians, Belarusians,
and Russians coincided with no political borders.

Notwithstanding the above, Lithuania was a Kingdom under Mindaugas
I, who was conditionally crowned by authority of Pope Innocent IV
in 1253. Gediminas and Vytautas the Great also assumed the title of
King, although uncrowned. A failed attempt was made in 1918 to
restore the Kingdom under German Prince
Urach.

By contemporary accounts, the Lithuanians called their early
rulers kunigas (kunigai in plural). The word was
borrowed from the German language ‚Äď kuning,
konig. Later on kunigas was replaced by the word
kunigaikŇ°tis, used to describe to medieval Lithuanian
rulers in modern Lithuanian, while kunigas today means
priest.

Bjorn Wiemer, Dialect and language contacts on the
territory of the Grand Duchy from the 15th century until 1939,
Kurt Braunm√ľller, Gisella Ferraresi, Aspects of multilingualism
in European language history, John Benjamins Publishing
Company, 2003, ISBN 9027219222, Google Print, p.109-114